April 25, 2013, Skokie, IL -- A team of North Shore educators and therapists announces that they have opened the Gifted Learning Center ~ North Shore (GLC~NS) at 5225 Old Orchard Road, Skokie and will host a parent coffee on February 23, 2013, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

GLC~NS is a new learning center created specifically for gifted and profoundly gifted students, including those seeking socialization support in an academic environment or whose “intensities” are often not a good fit for gifted programs with a traditional school approach. The center will operate twelve months a year, from early afternoon through evening, and will support gifted students in many ways, including as an adjunct to families who have chosen to home school, or as an after school resource for students presently in a full-time program. GLC~NS will also offer parent connection groups and parent support groups.

Dr. Gretchen Witte Glader is the Head of Center of GLC~NS. Dr. Glader is a trained Montessori educator who also possesses a Ph.D. in clinical social work. She is experienced in private practice and also in public practice at the middle school, and elementary level. She has worked with students in many settings, from pre-school through university level. Dr. Noriko Martinez, will serve as GLC~NS’s Director of Clinical Services. Dr. Martinez holds adjunct faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Loyola University Chicago. Both Dr. Glader and Dr. Martinez are licensed clinical social workers with extensive backgrounds working with gifted and profoundly gifted learners.

What makes GLC~NS different from school gifted programs?

GLC~NS’s stated mission is “to provide an education that reflects a genuine and attuned understanding for the way the mind of the gifted learner operates.”

“We believe every child deserves to be happy at school,” Dr. Glader asserts. “Through years of observing and studying the impact of how gifted children sometimes have to navigate school systems that aren’t designed for their unique needs, the importance of a different approach became clear to us. We created GLC~NS with an appreciation for the varied academic, social and emotional needs and capabilities of gifted learners.”

“We're not a traditional school,” she states. “We're not even a traditional gifted school.” Dr. Glader explains that GLC~NS addresses students’ unique needs through mixed age groupings, self-directed learning and a highly adaptive approach and structure that is incorporated into the environment rather than imposed. Under the supervision and guidance of clinically licensed staff or teachers who are trained in academics or the arts, GLC~NS provides learners with what she calls “a life platform” -- an intellectually stimulating environment that emphasizes exploration, social learning and peer connections. This Montessori-informed learning model is a key aspect of the GLC~NC environment.

As Dr. Martinez notes, “Parents of kids who exhibit aspects of giftedness are concerned with both the intellectual and social development of their children. At GLC~NS we engage students in groups that simultaneously facilitates development in both areas. Thus, as gifted children have the space to utilize and grow their intellectual strengths, they also grow in their ability to balance their own intensities with the complexity of social interactions."

Who is a good fit for GLC~NS?

GLC~NS has established entrance criteria that, rather than focusing on an IQ cutoff, invite students to participate in the learning experience during what Dr. Glader calls “a trial period of observation for goodness-of-fit.” In addition, GLC screens a child’s characteristics, gathers potentially relevant information from home and former schools and, if indicated, makes observations at a student’s present school. As Dr. Glader states, “We understand the limitations of traditional diagnostic conventions, and, for those students who require it, GLC~NS can facilitate a nuanced understanding of a gifted student’s unique abilities.”

“Gifted isn’t the same as high-achieving,” she notes. “In addition to intellectual intensity, gifted and profoundly gifted learners often exhibit an intense drive to explore, to achieve mastery and to express themselves. At GLC~NS, based both on clinical experience and also on academic study, we start by understanding that gifted children are always looking for meaning and order and have a profound need to comprehend the ‘why’ behind ideas and experiences.”

Dr. Glader concludes: “Our teachers are trained to stop and ask, ‘why,’ for every situation and to respond to gifted children with flexibility and an open mind. At GLC~NS, experienced and creative staff members are trained to recognize and celebrate the gifted learner’s need for autonomy and to lead our students to a self-initiated grasp of ideas. We facilitate the need for student ‘buy-in’ that is often an inherent component of the gifted student’s mind, and we encourage each student to exercise self-direction over his or her own learning process. It’s a simple equation: once a kid knows you get him, he will let you guide and help him to learn.”

For more on Gifted Learning Center-North Shore or gifted children, call Dr. Glader at 847-345-1694 or visit www.giftedlearningcenter.org, which links to related sites. GLS-NS will also host a parent coffee on April 30, 2013, from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.